Marina Endicott has her own playlist to accompany Good to a Fault. But for me Florence and The Machine’s You’ve Got the Love is the perfect musical summary of this book. The theme behind the song is one of upliftment and empowerment, lyrically being about God’s unfailing love for us all, even though we regularly fail ourselves: “Lord I just don’t care but you’ve got the love to see me through”.
To me this was the big theme of Good to a Fault. Clara (Clary) Purdy starts the book with a bang — a bang being her car crashing into another family’s car. From there on, Clary and all the other characters in the book go on to discover goodness, selfishness, sadness and happiness. These discoveries are mingled with constant internal conflict as each character battles with what goodness entails — having gotten “the love”, the characters reach out and do things to help each other instead of fretting or wallowing in misery (well, maybe there was some fretting and wallowing too).
I was very excited when the Canada Reads 2010 booklist was announced earlier in December. And it was with excitement that I started reading Good to a Fault, especially after hearing Simi Sara‘s thoughts on why she is defending this book.
Alas, I don’t think that I will be defending Good to a Fault. I found the book very frustrating. And found myself constantly telling Clary to bake some cookies already! As she was struggling to connect with the kids’ from the accident, to take care of them, and to create a home-y environment, baking cookies might just have done the trick.
At last, a Christmas party inspires Clary to bake a twelve-layer chocolate torte “assembled into a towering improbability of cinnamon-smelling dark and light stripes, pastry flake held together by chocolate air.” The kids were happy, singing Twelve layers dancing, Twelve lays a-laying. Everyone was connected and proud for having had a part in constructing this 12 layer edifice. The fact that the torte flew into the air and crashed to the ground is besides the point.
Naturally, I had to make a chocolate torte. At first my thoughts were to attempt a 12 layer assembly, but once I came across this Capri Chocolate Torte recipe, I knew what had to be done, specially since we’ve already established that I have a lot of hazelnuts at hand. So I started grinding the nuts, beating butter and sugar, and melting some chocolate. My favourite chocolate these days is a 64% dark chocolate from Papa New Guinea, smelling like tobacco with a wood-like, earthy after taste. I thought it would go well with the hazelnuts, and also with Bourbon ice cream! So while the cake was in the oven, I set to make the custard for ice cream.
I remembered a recipe for Creme Anglais and thought to modify it by substituting heavy cream for light cream and increasing the amount to 3 cups, 2 tablespoons of Bourbon for the vanilla bean, and increasing the sugar to 1/2 a cup. To make the custard I brought 1 1/2 cups of the cream to a simmer and then added the egg yolk and sugar mixture, stirring constantly and being careful that the mixture doesn’t boil and the eggs don’t cook. When the mixture thickened slightly, I poured it into a bowl. Let it cool. And then added the Bourbon and the remainder of the cream.
Sadly, must leave the custard in the fridge overnight before pouring into the ice cream machine. So, torte + Bourbon ice cream concoction shall be enjoyed with friends in a couple of days. We shall see what the taste verdict will be.
My thoughts on Good to a Fault: too many doughnuts were consumed in this book! Not my favourite of the Canada Reads 2010 list. But hey, it got me to bake a chocolate torte. So maybe it’s not all that bad.
I think Florence + the Machine should have one more thing in the algebra: some pants. I think it would not only have a better ring to the name, but might also make the video less awkward: Florence + the Machine + the Pants = definitely a better viewing experience.
Am thinking about witty reply, but sadly nothing comes to my mind.
I do agree that the addition of pants would have made this nicer, but alas, this is their video.
I am sad to miss the chocolate torte!
I hope a future book you read inspires you to make another one of its kind
Worry not my friend. My future in 2010 holds many days filled with chocolate!
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